C of E, Rome, Nature, C of E

I converted to Catholicism when I was around 30. That was after a much earlier childhood exposure to the Church of England's flavour of Christianity. The influence of my late first wife encouraged me to become confirmed into the Roman church, which incidentally recognised my original baptism.

The above changed when I started thinking a lot about love. For example, whilst Jesus represents pure love, such as his acceptance of crucifixion, I saw no other absolute or pure examples. Even my own parents made it hard for me to find.

Then I thought without nature we are unable to live, especially in terms of oxygen. I viewed nature as all giving and all love. So called Pantheists think nature and indeed just everything, is God, i.e., "pan" or all, and "theist": believer in God. It's a logical viewpoint, but of little day to day utility in terms of how to approach our lives, and the people in them.

I failed in my search for overlapping ideas, about the virtues of nature itself and the Catholic church, and my attendance to Mass became unreliable. After a brief foray with the "Legion of Mary", which is essentially a Catholic cult (as is Opus Dei and others), I somewhat drifted away from Catholic thinking.

I achieved full circle years later, because I found different dimensions of comfort by again attending a Church of England church. All my past experiences helped, but by understanding that there's little we all know within theism, to aim for more childlike tacks with sincerity, and to have confidence to start making our own minds up, as to what God is saying to ourselves as individuals, as opposed to assuming a total uniformity of humanity, then perhaps faith becomes more accessible?

I suggest open minds and continued seeking. Look for threads everywhere. Be truthful, and yes, probably like Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 18:3, "I promise you this. If you don't change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven."

Bearing in mind that "the Kingdom of Heaven" has been said to be within, and I think that means being our genuine selves, then there's something here to consider.